1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of environmental protection and oil spill clean up devices. More specifically the present invention relates to a system for separating flowable media into its component media. The system includes pump means delivering a continuously flowing column of the media from a media source, a separation tube through which a column of the flowing media is continuously passed, means for spinning the column about the axis of the tube at sufficient speed that centrifugal force within the column causes the component media to separate into radial layers, extraction conduit means for selectively extracting one or more of the radial layers from the tube, bleeder means for introducing a fluid such as air into the tube to alter the diameter of the radial layers, and monitoring and automatic feed back means for measuring the component medium content as the media enters and exits the separation tube and for adjusting the rotational speed of the media and the rate of fluid introduction from the bleeder means. An alternative to the bleeder means is provided in the form of a mechanism for altering the diameter of the extraction conduit means.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Millions of gallons of precious fuel are discharged into the sea by ocean liners and barges each year. This fuel has a profound environmental and economic impact on the coastal fishing grounds where it eventually ends up on the beaches and sea shore. In order to quickly recapture and store the lost fuel, the fuel must be pumped from the sea surface and separated from the water.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,189, issued on Jan. 12, 1992 to Richter, discloses a method and apparatus for separating fluids having different specific gravities. Richter teaches a mechanism for axially spinning an advancing column of flowable media within a separation tube so that at least one component medium of the composite media is separated by centrifugal force into a series of radial layers according to its specific gravity. One or more individual layers are then selectively drained from the column. The innermost, or central layer is preferably drained through an axially mounted conduit within the separation tube. Solid debris is also preferably drawn out through a second conduit mounted within the separation tube adjacent the tube wall. While Richter is highly effective and efficient for such media separation, it lacks provision for altering the diameter of the layers to more exclusively extract the selected layer and lacks provision for gathering separation data as feed back, and for generating and adjusting rotational speed and layer diameter for optimum results through automatic control.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide such a flowable media separation system which separates media consisting of one or more fluids and contaminants of different specific gravities and densities by centrifugal action, such that the lighter fluids are forced by free vortex action and by Bernoulli pressure forces into tight and separate cylindrical layers about the central axis of the spinning media and such that the spinning media is transported axially from an entry point to an exit point.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a system in which at least one layer is selectively removed through an extraction conduit opening into the selected layer.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a system which includes means for introducing a fluid such as air into the spinning media to form a center column of adjustable diameter within the media column, to in turn adjust the diameters of the layers to closely match the diameter of an extraction conduit to approach exclusive extraction of the selected constituent, the air stream serving to modify the density of the centrally separated fluid stream and thus minimize the loss of the higher density fluids to the central stream.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a system which provides sensor probe and automatic feed back means to monitor the incoming and outgoing media for constituent content, and specifically to monitor the concentration of contaminants in both the contaminant extraction conduit and the fluid extraction conduit, and to monitor the amount of unseparated fluid within the different radial positions.
It is finally an object of the present invention to provide such a system which computes a feed back signal from the data gathered through the monitoring in order to correctly determine and control the rotational speed of the rotation means and thus achieve maximum separation results, to monitor the amount of unseparated fluids and to compute a feed back signal in order to control a bleed valve and thus modify the density of the media by injecting of air into the media before the separation.